This invention claims priority of a German filed patent application DE-P 199 63 345.2.
The invention refers to an optical measurement arrangement having an ellipsometer in which an incident beam of polarized light is directed at an angle xcex1xe2x89xa090xc2x0 onto a measurement location on the surface of a specimen, and information as to specimen properties, preferably as to layer thicknesses, is obtained from an investigation of the reflected return beam; and having a device for ascertaining and correcting directional deviations between the line normal to the specimen surface and the angle bisector between the incident and return beams. The invention further refers to a measurement arrangement and a method having an objective for illumination and imaging of a measurement location on a specimen, and a leveling device having an optical radiation source, a direction monitoring beam, and a spatially resolving detector.
Optical measurement arrangements on the principle of ellipsometers and spectrophotometers, and their use for layer thickness measurement, are known from the existing art. They have been successfully used, in particular, for the measurement of thin layers, for example on patterns on wafer surfaces.
Since an effort is being made toward increasingly fine patterns and increasingly thin layers in wafer manufacture in particular, more and more stringent requirements are also being placed on the accuracy of the optical measurement arrangements with which the dimensional consistency of the patterns and layers is verified. In this context, it is important not only to ensure that no pattern edges are located in the measurement window (since the layer thickness measurement can thereby be falsified), but above all to guarantee that the specimen surface at the measurement point is oriented perpendicular to the measurement beam path, so that measurement errors can be ruled out.
Obliquities or undesired inclinations of the specimen surface occur, for example, if the specimen itself has an uneven surface, is not resting in tilt-free fashion on the specimen stage, or is distorted by suction onto the support surface. Such obliquities therefore must be identified and compensated for by way of suitable positioning systems. In addition, an accurate measurement also requires precise focusing, i.e. it must be ensured that the specimen surface lies in the focal plane and that, in the event of deviations, the specimen can be correspondingly aligned.
In order to allow even complex patterns and layer systems to be measured, both ellipsometers and spectrophotometers are often used in a combined arrangement for measurement. A high degree of measurement reliability is thereby obtained, but the requisite large number of optical assemblies results in space problems, since the assemblies must be coordinated and positioned with respect to one another in such a way that, if possible, the beam paths do not substantially influence each other. For example, it is usual for direct access to the measurement location to be already blocked by the measurement objective of the spectrophotometer.
Additional problems arise because of the variable measurement locations on the specimen surface, i.e. a change in specimen position relative to the measurement beam paths occurs during the measurement or between individual measurement steps; if the mechanical positioning devices provided for the purpose are insufficiently precise, this can result in defocusing and also in tilting of the specimen surface.
Because not only the demand for greater accuracy but also the effort toward increasing production volumes must be taken into account, it is necessaryxe2x80x94for example in continuous production of wafersxe2x80x94to make measurements at ever shorter intervals and to check prior to each measurement that the prerequisites for the necessary high measurement accuracy are present. If such is not the case, that check must be followed by a rapid and, if possible, automatic correction of the specimen orientation.
A large number of publications regarding the orientation of wafers in wafer steppers and regarding leveling relative to the measurement beam path is already known in the existing art. U.S. Pat. No. 4,398,824, for example, describes a method for orienting a wafer in which local obliquities of the wafer and inhomogeneities in the photoresist can be compensated for. This method can only be applied, however, if portions of the wafer are configured as Fresnel zones. Since this is usually not the case, however, the method proposed here is not suitable for the most common wafer production equipment.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,218,415 describes a device for determining the obliquity of a wafer relative to the measurement beam in which an arrangement for illuminating a measurement location on the wafer, a device for receiving the reflected light beam, and means for modifying the size of the light beam are provided. In this context, a determination is made of the size or cross section of the light beam in the optically conjugated plane of the surface to be measured.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,595,829 discloses an arrangement for focusing a specimen surface with which it is possible to determine the focal plane and cause a change in the position of the sample in such a way that the specimen surface lies in the focal plane. It is not possible with this arrangement to ascertain and correct a tilt of the specimen surface relative to the measurement beam path, however, so that the prerequisites for extremely accurate measurements cannot be created.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,136,149 describes a method for the inspection of wafer surfaces which makes possible both focusing and a determination of the obliquity of the wafer surface. In this case a beam is directed through an objective onto the specimen surface, and the light reflected there is split into two beams. Of these, the first beam is recorded by a position-sensitive line receiver (CCD line), and a focus signal is generated with the aid of this receiver. The second partial beam strikes a two-dimensional position-sensitive detector and is used there to determine the obliquity. A substantial disadvantage here is the fact that the determinations of focus and obliquity, and thus the adjustment possibilities when correcting focus and obliquity, are not decoupled.
If the measurement and correction possibilities for focus and obliquity are dependent on one another in this fashion, it is time-consuming to meet the desired criteria for both the focus and obliquity of the wafer, since correcting the one variable always brings about a change in the other, and the approximation to the ideal state must be made iteratively. For example, if the focus is established first and then the obliquity is corrected, the obliquity correction causes the focus to drift out again as a result of the obliquity correction. The requirements in terms of obliquity have now been met, but the specimen surface is not adequately focused. If the focus is subsequently corrected, there is once again the risk of a change in the leveling or orientation of the wafer surface with respect to the measurement arrangement, and the leveling must once again be checked and, if necessary, corrected. This alternating adjustment until the desired result is achieved does not meet the need for a rapid inspection and production pace.
Proceeding therefrom, it is the object of the invention to develop an optical measurement arrangement of the kind cited initially in such a way that local inclinations and irregularities of the specimen surface are identified and a correction of the inclinational deviation of the specimen surface with reference to the optical axis of the measurement arrangement is made, said correction being performed with high accuracy and in a brief period of time, and being decoupled from any focusing of the specimen surface.
According to the present invention, the object is achieved by an optical measurement arrangement having
an ellipsometer in which an incident beam of polarized light is directed at an angle xcex1xe2x89xa090xc2x0 onto a measurement location on the surface of a specimen, and information as to specimen properties, preferably as to layer thicknesses, is obtained from an investigation of the reflected return beam;
a device for ascertaining and correcting directional deviations between a line normal to the specimen surface and an angle bisector between the incident and return beams;
an optical radiation source emitting a direction monitoring beam which is directed onto the measurement location substantially in the direction of the angle bisector;
a position-sensitive area detector and optical means for imaging a return reflection of the direction monitoring beam onto the position-sensitive area detector;
an evaluation circuit to which the position-sensitive area detector is connected and said evaluation circuit is for determining positions commands; and
a positioning system receiving the positioning commands of the evaluation circuit, wherein a specimen stage on which the specimen rests is caused to tilt until the position of the return reflection of the direction monitoring beam on the position-sensitive area detector corresponds to a predefined position at which the direction of the line normal to the specimen surface corresponds to the direction of the angle bisector.
A further object of the invention is to describe a measurement arrangement with which local inclinations and irregularities of a specimen surface can be detected, with high accuracy and independently of any focusing.
This object is achieved, according to the invention, by a measurement arrangement comprising
a mirror arrangement having a central mirror that defines a shadow region and an optical axis, the mirror arrangement illuminating and imaging a measurement location on a specimen,
a leveling device having an optical radiation source, a direction monitoring beam, and a spatially resolving detector and
at least one optical means being arranged in the shadow region of the central mirror of the mirror arrangement, wherein said at least one optical means guides the direction monitoring beam substantially along the optical axis of the mirror arrangement and directs it onto the measurement location of the specimen, and wherein said at least one optical means directs the direction monitoring beam reflected from the measurement location onto the spatially resolving detector.
A further object of the invention is to describe a method with which local inclinations and irregularities of a specimen surface can be detected, with high accuracy and independently of any focusing.
This object is achieved, according to the invention, by a method for measuring the inclination between a line perpendicular to a measurement location on a specimen and an optical axis defined by an objective for imaging the measurement location, characterized by the following steps:
generating a direction monitoring beam by a radiation source;
delivering the direction monitoring beam to the optical axis of the objective, wherein the direction monitoring beam arrives in a region between the objective and the measurement location;
deflecting the direction monitoring beam toward the measurement location;
reflecting the direction monitoring beam at the measurement location;
deflecting the reflected direction monitoring beam out of the vicinity of the optical axis, specifically in a region between the objective and the measurement location;
receiving the deflected direction monitoring beam by a spatially resolving detector; and
determining from the signals of the detector the inclination between the line perpendicular to the measurement location and the optical axis of the objective.
Advantageous embodiments and developments of the invention follow from the subclaims.
According to the present invention, in an optical measurement arrangement having an ellipsometer and having a device for ascertaining and correcting directional deviations between the line normal to the specimen surface and the angle bisector between the incident and return beams of the ellipsometer, provision is made for a direction monitoring beam to be directed onto the specimen substantially in the direction of the angle bisector, its arrival point lying in the arrival point of the incident beam of the ellipsometer; for optical means for imaging the return reflection of the direction monitoring beam onto an area detector to be provided; for the area detector to be connected to an evaluation circuit; and for positioning commands for a positioning system connected to the specimen stage to be available at the outputs of the evaluation circuit, the positioning commands causing tilting of the specimen stage until the position of the return reflection on the area detector corresponds to the predefined position at which the direction of the normal line corresponds to the direction of the angle bisector.
If what is provided as the area detector is, advantageously, a four-quadrant detector, the proportional quantities of light of the return reflection striking each quadrant can serve as evaluation criteria for deviations between the direction of the normal line and the direction of the angle bisector. Tilting of the specimen stage on which the specimen rests can be brought about as a function of the deviations thus ascertained.
The result is to create an arrangement that makes possible alignment of the specimen surface with little technical complexity and high efficiency. The receiving surface of the four-quadrant detector is advantageously adjusted in such a way that the direction of the angle bisector corresponds precisely to the direction of the normal line when the same quantities of light are striking all four quadrants.
In an embodiment of the invention, a focussable diode laser that emits linearly polarized light at, for example, a wavelength xcex=670 nm is provided as the source for the direction monitoring beam. A polarization splitter is present in the beam path between the diode laser and the specimen surface, followed (from the viewpoint of the diode laser) by a xcex/4 plate. On its path to the specimen, the linearly polarized light is converted into circularly polarized light as it passes through the xcex/4 plate. On the return path from the specimen, another pass through the xcex/4 plate turns the circularly polarized light back into linearly polarized light, but with a polarization of xcfx80/2, which is advantageously used to couple out the return reflection at the splitter surface of the polarization splitter. From the splitter surface, the reflected direction monitoring beam is directed onto the receiving surfaces of the four-quadrant sensor, where evaluation of its position is performed in the manner already described. It is thereby possible to achieve an efficient and economical configuration of the measurement arrangement with prefabricated optical assemblies.
It is also within the context of the invention, however, to direct the light of the diode laser without interposition of a polarization splitter and a xcex/4 plate via the deflection mirror onto the specimen surface and from there back onto the four-quadrant sensor; the advantageous result is that the number of optical assemblies to be used can be reduced, and principally that assemblies which greatly attenuate the intensity can be eliminated from the beam path.
An embodiment of this kind is achieved, for example, if the direction monitoring beam is directed onto the specimen surface not exactly in the direction of the angle bisector, so that the direction monitoring beam reflected from the specimen surface does not return back into the incoming beam, and the four-quadrant sensor can be placed directly in the reflected beam path. Separate guidance of the beams also yields the advantage that mutual influence between the light of the direction monitoring beam incident onto and returning from the specimen is not possible.
Of course the invention is not limited exclusively to the use of diode lasers per se, and also not to the wavelength xcex=670 nm; other suitable radiation sources and wavelengths are conceivable.
In a further preferred embodiment, the positioning system for tilting the specimen stage comprises two piezo-translators, each of which has one end articulated on the frame and the second end braced against the specimen stage, the specimen stage resting in the manner of a three-point mount on these two ends of the translators and on a frame-mounted bearing point, and these three support positions being distributed with radial symmetry on a circular circumference.
In particular when the measurement arrangement according to the present invention is used in conjunction with the inspection or measurement of layer thicknesses on wafer surfaces, piezo-translators having a stroke length of 200 xcexcm should be provided, while the frame-mounted bearing point can be configured as a prism support, the distance between the support positions on the circular circumference advantageously being approximately 120 mm.
The invention further refers to a measurement arrangement comprises a mirror arrangement, especially a mirror objective, whose central mirror forms a shadow region (unused aperture space of the mirror arrangement). Arranged in this shadow region are optical means that direct a direction monitoring beam of a leveling device substantially along the optical axis of the mirror arrangement onto a measurement location on the specimen, and direct the direction monitoring beam reflected from the measurement location onto a spatially resolving detector.
This makes possible a particularly compact and space-saving configuration of the measurement arrangement. In particular, the beam path of the leveling device is separate from the normal beam path of the mirror arrangement. The result is to eliminate the scattered light of the direction monitoring beam that otherwise occurs at single-mirror elements and interferes with the measured and received radiation. In this fashion it is possible, as will be explained below, to direct onto the specimen surface a plurality of beams that have a common optical axis but whose emissions nevertheless do not pass through one another.
For beam guidance for the leveling device, it is possible on the one hand to provide a beam splitter with which the direction monitoring beam reflected from the measurement location is coupled out of the beam path of the illuminating direction monitoring beam and guided onto the detector. This is necessary when the direction monitoring beam runs parallel to the optical axis of the mirror arrangement. If the measurement location is aligned exactly perpendicular to the optical axis. the direction monitoring beam from the measured specimen will reflect back into itself. On the other hand, the beam paths of the illuminating and reflected direction monitoring beams can be somewhat different from one another, and can have a slight inclination with respect to the optical axis. In this case a deflection mirror or deflection prism is sufficient to direct the reflected direction monitoring beam onto the detector. The slightly different inclination of the illuminating and reflected direction monitoring beams with respect to the optical axis of the measurement arrangement is taken into account in the evaluation of the detector signals, in order to make possible an accurate determination of the inclination of the measurement location with respect to the optical axis of the measurement arrangement.
Also possible, of course, is an arrangement having two deflection elements between the arrangement and the measurement location, of which the one deflection element directs the direction monitoring beam onto the measurement location, and the other directs the reflected direction monitoring beam onto the detector.
In addition, using an evaluation circuit and a positioning system, the inclination of the specimen with the measurement location present thereon can be modified in such a way that deviations between the line perpendicular to the measurement location and the optical axis of the measurement arrangement are adjusted or controlled to a predetermined value or to zero.
The leveling device is used concurrently with normal operation of the mirror arrangement. In such operation, the mirror arrangement delivers optical radiation to the measurement location and receives the radiation coming from the measurement location. The mirror arrangement is thus used for illumination purposes and for visual or electronic observation of the measurement location and/or to pass the optical radiation through to a focusing device and/or to receive for a spectrophotometer the radiation coming from the measurement location. In addition, an ellipsometer, in particular also a spectral ellipsometer, can also be directed with a separate beam path onto the measurement location.
The invention furthermore refers to a method for measuring the inclination of a measurement location on a specimen imaged by an objective, in which a direction monitoring beam is generated by a radiation source and brought to or into the vicinity of the optical axis of the objective in a region between the objective and the measurement location. There it is deflected toward the measurement location. After reflection of the direction monitoring beam at the measurement location, the reflected direction monitoring beam is deflected out of the vicinity of the optical axis in the region between the measurement location and the objective, and directed onto a spatially resolving detector. From the detector signals, the inclinational deviation of the line perpendicular to the measurement location from the optical axis of the objective is determined.
In this context, the direction monitoring beam can extend, in the region between the objective and the measurement location, parallel to the optical axis of the objective or at a slight inclination with respect to the optical axis of the objective. In the case where the direction monitoring beam is oriented parallel to the optical axis, evaluation of the detector signals for determining the inclination of the measurement location is independent of any focusing of the measurement location with a focus measurement system. The inclination of the measurement location can thus advantageously be ascertained and corrected separately from the focus state.
In the case of a direction monitoring beam that is slightly inclined with respect to the optical axis, that inclination (in the range 0-2xc2x0) is taken into account either in the adjustment of the detector or in the evaluation of the detector signals. Here again, evaluation of the detector signals is substantially independent of focusing with a focusing device. Fewer optical components are needed for inclination measurement, however, than in the case in which the direction monitoring beam extends parallel to the optical axis.
The method described above for inclination measurement can be used for any objective that records and images the measurement location. On the one hand a conventional objective having lenses can be used. The direction monitoring beam is deflected between the objective and the measurement location by means of a deflecting optical element. The deflecting optical element (e.g. beam splitter, mirror) can disturb the optical beam path of the objective. However, the disturbance is negligible if the deflecting optical element is very near to the objective and is greater or much smaller than the diameter of the end-lens of the objective (the end-lens is defined as the lens of the objective nearest to the measurement location).
On the other hand the method described above is usable in particular in the case of a mirror objective in whose unused aperture space, i.e. in the shadow region of the central mirror of the mirror objective, the deflection of the direction monitoring beam to or from the measurement location can be accomplished without colliding with other beam paths of the mirror objective.
In addition, the inclination of the specimen can be adjusted, with the aid of an evaluation circuit and a positioning system, in such a way that a predefined angle is created between the line perpendicular to the measurement location on the specimen and the optical axis of the objective. This angle can also be set to zero, or can be established by way of a control system so that the optical axis of the objective is perpendicular to the measurement location.
A particularly preferred variant embodiment of a measurement arrangement according to the present invention is achieved in cases in which in addition to the ellipsometer, there is also provided a spectrophotometer that, in addition to the measurement with the ellipsometer, can also be used for layer thickness measurement. Here a specimen measurement beam is focused through a mirror objective onto the specimen surface, and the light of the specimen measurement beam reflected back from the specimen into the mirror objective is conveyed to a spectrograph for evaluation. The specimen measurement beam forms a hollow beam cone, proceeding from the mirror objective, which stands with its conical tip on the measurement location and in which the space in the interior of the cone is not used by the specimen measurement beam. In other words the mirror objective has, in the direction toward the specimen, an open aperture space which is not used by the specimen measurement beam and whose three-dimensional extent corresponds to the interior of the hollow cone.
In order to decouple from one another the optical means and method steps for leveling the specimen and correcting angular offsets of the specimen surface, and the optical means and method steps for spectrophotometric sensing of the specimen properties, and thus to prevent any mutual influence from occurring, provision is made according to the present invention for guiding the direction monitoring beam inside the hollow cone or in the open aperture space not used by the mirror objective.
For this purpose, a deflection mirror having a mirror surface inclined preferably 45xc2x0 toward the optical axis of the mirror objective is arranged, inside this unused aperture space, between the mirror objective and specimen surface. The direction monitoring beam coming from the diode laser and focused onto the specimen surface is first directed laterally through the hollow beam cone onto the mirror surface of the deflection mirror, and from the latter is deflected toward the specimen surface. The result of this guidance of the direction monitoring beam inside the hollow beam cone of the specimen measurement beam is that the direction monitoring beam and specimen measurement beam can be simultaneously focused onto the same measurement point, and do not (or do not significantly) influence one another.
From the specimen surface, the direction monitoring beam is reflected back into the unused aperture space of the mirror objective, proceeds inside the unused aperture space to the deflection mirror, and is directed by the latter, as already described, directly or indirectly onto the four-quadrant sensor. The outer contour of the deflection mirror should advantageously be adapted to the internal shape of the hollow beam cone, so that the aperture space not used by the mirror objective can be optimally utilized for the direction monitoring beam.
The particular advantage, as already indicated, is the fact that decoupling of the beam paths is guaranteed and that nevertheless a compact configuration can also be achieved, in which the large number of necessary optical assemblies are accommodated in the vicinity of the measurement location.
These highly accurate measurement arrangements of course also include a capability for monitoring and correcting the focal position of the specimen surface with reference to the measurement beam paths of the ellipsometer and spectrophotometer. In addition to the optical assemblies already referred to, a focus measurement and adjustment system is therefore also present. In this, based on a known embodiment, a focus measurement beam is directed obliquely onto the specimen surface through a half-occluded pupil, and a position-sensitive detector is arranged in the light reflected from the specimen surface. When the specimen is displaced in the direction of the optical axis, a measurement signal that changes in proportion to the displacement distance is available at the output of the detector, and on the basis of this the focal position can be ascertained and corrected.
The focus measurement beam, like the specimen measurement beam used for spectrophotometry, is directed through the mirror objective onto the measurement location, while the direction monitoring beam is emitted into the region between mirror objective and specimen surface, and is directed onto the measurement location by the deflection mirror positioned there.
The features according to the present invention thus yield an optical measurement arrangement that on the one hand has available all the assemblies and components necessary to perform the measurement task, and nonetheless can be configured in such a way that the large number of measurement tasks and steps concentrated onto a very small portion of the specimen surface can be performed without hindrance.